Figures from the British Crime Surveys show that at least 1 in 4 women and 1 in 30 men experience rape or a serious sexual assault at some point during their lives.

An investigation by UN Women UK found that 97% of women aged 18-24 have been sexually harassed, with a further 96% not reporting those situations because of the belief that it would not change anything. 

Harassment starts at a young age. Grassroots organisation Our Streets Now found that 72% of pupils who did report public sexual harassment described receiving a negative response from their school, with the majority of participants stating that no real action was taken, while a further 47% didn’t report incidents because they were afraid of not being believed or taken seriously.

The heartbreaking murder of Sarah Everard has highlighted that we need to challenge the sexist, derogatory and predatory language we hear, we need to teach both boys and girls about consent and the importance of gender equality.

More needs to be done at an earlier stage to tackle these issues. The compulsory national curriculum needs to be updated to include more of an emphasis about consensual sex, sexuality and what constitutes sexual harassment and abuse.